12.28.2006

I hate being sick. The sweaty, yucky, dizzy, stuffed-up, lethargy is just no fun. I do however enjoy not having to go to work which is what I did today, and look forward to doing again tomorrow. Sitting on the couch watching BASEketball, drinking gallons of hot tea, and not doing anything all day. I also spent a fair amount of time bumming around the interweb. Somehow I was previously unaware that Norah and Chuck have blogs. I think I'm gonna add a blog-roll to my side bar. If I missed you, leave a note and I'll add yours as well. For all I know I have other friends with blogs that I don't know about. Aight, I'm gonna go pop a couple NyQuil gel-caps (I can't do the syrup, the taste makes me gag ) and try to sleep.

12.20.2006

So I was coming up the stairs at Montgomery BART this morning (no not the escalator, the stairs!) and I heard an a cappella group singing in the BART plaza. I love a cappella and these guys were actually quite good so I stopped to listen for a bit. It took a good minute for me to realize that they'd re-worded traditional songs to sing about these Attune probiotic wellness bars they were all holding. They were mugging it up for the audience and being generally silly. Singing "a few of my favorite things" and talking about all the flavors the bars come in. They were ultra campy and totally put a smile on my face. Before I continued on with my morning a chanteuse cutie handed me a chocolate crisp attune bar. I don't know what probiotic means (has something to do with yogurt?), but that's one tasty chocolate bar! I'll have to go read more on their website to see what this is all about. www.attunefoods.com if you're curious.

PS: Yikes! Two posts about marketing in a row. This whole agency thing must be rubbing off on me.

11.13.2006

The road from La Fortuna to Monteverde is one of the rockiest pot-holiest, stretches of dirt I've ever seen. I'll see if I can figure out how to post the video on YouTube when I get back. It's pretty funny. Exhausted and well shooken up, we finally arrived in Monteverde and we're greeted at the Pension Santa Elena hostel with open arms. Huge thanks to Nuri and Myla for the recommendation, they were fabulous. While in Monteverde, we did a twilight hike through the cloud forest, the tree-top canopy tour zip-lines, and a Coffee tour.

The twilight hike was through the Children's Eternal Rain Forest. Walking through the cloud forest after dark is a great way to see some nocturnal wildlife. Although we didn't see any mammals (nor a Resplendent Quetzal), we did see some excellent bugs, spiders, sleeping birds, and bats. It was also a hoot just tromping through the rain in the dark (no, really, it was!).

The next morning we woke up early for the canopy tour. Myshelle was incredibly nervous, as that she's terrified of heights. She can't even go on the ferris wheel at the fair. We got all geared up and climbed into the trees. I'm still not sure why, but once we were up there, Myshelle's fears disappeared. She was soaring through the sky (up to 60Kph) both through the tree-tops as well as over them. Granted, you wouldn't actually see a Resplendent Quetzel unless you smacked face-first into one, but oh-boy is it fun. After the zip-lines (two hours of them!) we did the suspension bridge hike as well. Basically it's a trail along the ridge with bridges criss-crossing over the valley below. Very cool. We're pretty sure we saw a couple howler monkeys in the trees but they were far away so I can't be sure.

We got back into town in time for the Coffee tour. Monteverde is home to a collective of farmers that have formed a coffee co-op and we enjoyed a 4 hour tour. Our guide Broulio grew up in the town and was incredibly knowledgeable. We got to meet one of the farmers and check out her farm. The red berries are a popular sweet treat for local kids. We learned about the entire process from drying to roasting and even drinking! I have to admit, it was one of the tastiest cups of coffee I've ever had; certainly the freshest.

After that was another long and bumpy drive to Quepos on the Pacific coast. We're spending the night and catching our breath and we'll continue on to Drake Bay tomorrow morning at 5. I'm really looking forward to relaxing on the beach for a while. Our adventure has been amazing so far, but also tiring. The idea of just sitting on the beach (and maybe doing a little hiking and scuba diving) sounds just right. I don't know if there will be internet or phone access while we're there so I may be incommunicado for a while.

11.09.2006

We just got back from 3 lovely days in Tortuguero, a charming town on the Caribbean with access only by boat. With no cars in town, there are no roads, only smooth sand paths. The town itself was just too cute. Easily one of the most fun places we've stayed. Tons of friendly folks and lots of natural beauty. The boat ride into town was especially nifty. Imagine the jungle safari boat-ride at Disneyland, only instead of plaster elephants blowing water at you there´s herons, egrets, and even a crocodile (or maybe it was a cayman). Instead of sticky-fingered little kids, the riders are Costa Rican commuters. We even managed to get wet when the boat got too close to the shore and splashed water all over us (see flickr for Myshelle´s amazingly fortuitous timing). We unfortunately weren't able to enjoy the town as much as we would have liked, we´re both recovering from a nasty stomach bug. We´re now in the town of Fortuna, at the base of the Arenal volcano. I´d never actually heard a volcano exploding before, very cool. Sounds like a staccato jet-plane. We took a little stroll around the base of the volcano, and now we´re back at the hotel. Myshelle´s getting annoyed with me because it´s taking too long for me to blog and upload pictures. In all fairness, we've been here an hour and a half. After this we´re headed out to the natural hot-springs outside of town. Should be spectacular. The pool has a bar, I think Myshelle will forgive my transgressions as soon as I get her a nice cold tropical drink. Miss you. Wish you were here.

11.04.2006

After a hectic start, we´re slowing the pace way down. Today is our second day in Cahuita, and we´re loving it. Thanks to Nuri for the recommendation, this chill little town on the carribean is a perfect way to get our trip started. The black sand beach is majestic, with water the temperature of a warm bath and sand as soft as talcom powder, it´s pretty darn close to paradise. Turn the weather knob down by about 10 degrees and lose the muggy humidity and we´d be hard-pressed to leave. As it is, I suppose I can´t complain. Walking through the Cahuita national park along the beach, and just relaxing in the hammock on our porch, we´re having a blast. Tomorrow morning we´re going snorkeling over the corral reefs off the coast, and then we drive to Tortuguero in search of sea turtles. As per Sean's request, I´m uploading photos to my flickr as we speak. Can´t seem to connect my flickr and blogger accounts, but you can hit the link on the right. Wish you were here.

10.30.2006

I'm leaving for Costa Rica in 48 hours. Nervous, excited, anxious. Thinking it would be clever to have a blog, just in case I manage to find an internet café some time over the next 3 weeks. Here's to the anticipation of a significantly more interesting 2nd post.